


Heard What You Didn't Say

by kanoitrace



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pre-Series, Sort Of, Young Keith (Voltron) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 12:16:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17867096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanoitrace/pseuds/kanoitrace
Summary: By this point, Keith is honestly used to spending birthdays alone, but this year? This year there's Shiro.





	Heard What You Didn't Say

**Author's Note:**

  * For [museaway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/museaway/gifts).



> Muse, a slightly belated happy birthday! You made my birthday (and life) so much brighter with your friendship! I hope this can do even a modicum of the same for you. Love you and you are an amazing individual!

Birthdays? Well, if Keith is honest, they’re kind of hard for him. Have been ever since his dad passed away. It’s not like there was a deluge of people chomping at the bit to celebrate with him after that, and so he got used to one birthday after another passing by without anyone mentioning it to him. So yeah, they’re hard. Not that he’s ever been that open and honest about it. He’d never had anyone to be that open and honest with..

 

Now, though, there’s Shiro (and by extension, Adam, he guesses, but Adam and him don’t exactly pal around with each other), and Shiro is very much someone he would like to be open and honest with. Unfortunately, after so long going without emotional connections, he’s struggling to figure out just how to bring it up.

 

It’s a struggle that currently has him pacing back and forth in his dorm room, turning to his mirror every few laps and testing variations on, “So, Shiro, you know birthdays?” Keith shakes his head. No, what kind of opener is that!? Of course Shiro knows birthdays! “What are you doing Saturday?” No, too indirect. What would his follow up be if Shiro says he’s busy? “Shiro, my birthday is Saturday.”

 

He stops to stand in front of the mirror now, looking at his reflection, not quite scowling, but definitely not looking pleased. This is stupid. It’s stupid and ridiculous and just what is he doing?

 

Heaving a sigh, Keith turns and grabs his jacket. This is just depressing; he’d be much better served spending his time training, so off he goes to do just that.

 

* * *

 

Despite his better judgement and insistence that he won’t, Keith continues to agonize over the whole telling Shiro about his birthday thing. Except, turns out, it’s all apparently a moot point anyway. Wednesday comes, and off Shiro goes on some garrison mission. Keith tries not to let it bother him that Shiro went off without giving him much warning; after all, it’s not like Shiro has to tell him every single thing in his life. It isn’t exactly like Keith tells him every single thing either. Hell, Keith can’t even tell Shiro when his birthday is so…. Turn-about is fair play or something.

 

Still, it sucks. It always sucks when Shiro leaves, but it sucks even more knowing that he’s left right before Keith’s birthday. Even if he never worked up the nerve to tell Shiro, it would have been nice just knowing someone who cared about him was around.

 

These things taken into consideration, Keith promptly falls into a darker mood than usual. He gets into no less than four fights by Friday (not counting the one-sided arguments he somehow manages to start and then immediately walk away from), and is subsequently suspended for a week. Honestly, he’s lucky it isn’t for longer, especially considering his less than apologetic behavior when he’s given the news.

 

When Saturday evening rolls around, it finds Keith sitting in his room. Alone. His roommate has gone off somewhere, but Keith hadn’t thought to ask - they aren’t exactly close. It’s just as well; means he doesn’t have to find somewhere else to mope.

 

He lays on his stomach in his bed, staring at the wall. With a heavy sigh, he buries his face into his pillow. This? All of this is ridiculous.

 

This isn’t the first birthday Keith has spent alone, and he’s sure it won’t be the last. Somehow, though, that’s a far more depressing prospect than it once had been.

 

“Should have just told him,” he mumbles into the fabric of his pillowcase, squeezing the horrible, lumpy, polyester-stuffed thing in hopes of finding some comfort. He doesn’t remember past birthdays feeling this lonely.

 

It’s the stark contrast of Life Before Shiro and Life After Shiro, except this is After, and he really only has himself to blame for this feeling. It brings into question a lot of the experiences he’s had in his life - a lot of barriers he’s erected around his heart, a lot of the things he’s shucked off onto other people instead of looking at his own culpability, a lot of the anger he insists on having towards the world. A lot. Just a lot. Way too much to be staring down the barrel of on his sixteenth birthday.

 

But hey, he didn’t tell his only friend that it’s his birthday today, so what else does he really have planned for the evening?

 

The pillow is roughly yanked from underneath him and placed over his head as he squeezes his eyes shut against the onslaught of absolute crap he’s feeling like, and for the first time since Shiro came into his life, he ponders if maybe he wouldn’t have been better served if he’d just continued on his own.

 

At some point, he must fall asleep. There is no other explanation otherwise for how much the sudden knocking at his door startles him. Emerging from his pillow hideaway, Keith stares at the door in confusion. He considers ignoring it - no one ever comes to see him - as a quick look around confirms that his roommate is still nowhere to be seen, but the knock sounds again. It’s still as even and non-instant as it had been before, but still he narrows his eyes in the direction of the door. He really doesn’t want to play secretary for his wayward roommate, thank you very much.

 

He’s just about to duck back under his pillow when the knocking comes again, this time accompanied by a voice that has Keith’s breath catching in his chest.

 

“Keith? Are you in there? It’s Shiro.”

 

Suddenly, Keith can’t get out of the bed fast enough. He narrowly avoids face-planting into the floor courtesy of his feet getting tangled in his blanket, and he doesn’t even bother to try and appear presentable before he rips the door open.

 

Sure enough, Shiro stands opposite him (just Shiro, no Adam, and Keith does his best to ignore how much happier that little fact makes him), a tray of store-bought cupcakes in one hand and a plastic shopping bag in the other.

 

Keith must be gaping at Shiro, he’s sure of it, but Shiro just smiles at him and offers up the cupcakes. “Happy birthday.” He doesn’t say anything like he hopes he isn’t interrupting any plans or other such nonsense - Shiro knows him too well for that, for which Keith is so eternally grateful.

 

“How did you know?” Keith manages to choke out.

 

Shiro’s smile turns just a little smug, and Keith can feel his cheeks heat up at the expression. “Come on, now, you think I don’t know how to look into someone’s records to find out when their birthday is?”

 

Keith’s shock scrunches down into a glower. “Shouldn’t that be illegal.”

 

Shiro winks before pushing his way past Keith and into the room. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

 

Keith lets him walk past without any complaint or argument; he simply watches as Shiro begins unpacking candles and a lighter to go with the cupcakes. Emotion wells up in him so suddenly that he fights desperately against the threat of tears. It doesn’t matter how Shiro knew or that he was supposed to be out of town; it just matters that he’s here.

 

“Thank you,” Keith whispers, and for a moment, he’s afraid he’s said it too quietly, that Shiro won’t hear him. But Shiro always hears him, apparently even when he doesn’t manage to say anything at all (things like “my birthday is on Saturday, and it would mean a lot to spend it with you”).

 

Shiro places a hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezes. “Hey, I wasn’t about to let you spend any more birthdays alone.” Then he ruffles Keith’s hair. “You’re too young for that.”

 

Keith finally looks up and quirks a lopsided smile at Shiro. “Yeah, guess you’re right.”

 

He just desperately hopes that Shiro doesn’t hear the way his heart beats at that smile or when Keith thinks how much he wishes he was older and there was no Adam. And if he does, Keith desperately hopes he also hears just how much Keith doesn’t want to mess this up.

**Author's Note:**

> I genuinely hate how much I struggled with the beginning of this (and how easy it is to tell), but I feel like I finally got my groove towards the end, at least.
> 
> You can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kanoitrace), [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/kanoitrace), and to a far lesser extent [Tumblr](http://kanoitrace.tumblr.com/).


End file.
